Las Vegas Woman Dies After Backroom Buttocks Enhancement Surgery

LAS VEGAS – An unlicensed doctor and his assistant have been charged with murder after a woman died in Las Vegas following a buttocks enhancement procedure performed in the back room of a floor tile shop, authorities said Monday.

Las Vegas resident Elena Caro, 42, died at a hospital Saturday following the procedure, according to the Clark County Coroner's Office.

Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas, 55, and Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, 47 were arrested at McCarran International Airport on Saturday night in connection with her death as they were trying to catch a flight to Colombia, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Metro Police Lt. Lew Roberts said this was not an isolated incident, with a rise in people seeking treatment from fraudulent, unlicensed doctors in the area.

Matallana-Galvas allegedly told detectives he was a homeopathic doctor in Colombia but not a licensed doctor in Nevada, according to the arrest report.

Police have not elaborated on the exact cause of Caro's death, but are waiting for toxicology reports.

According to an arrest report, Matallana-Galvas told Las Vegas police homicide detectives that he injected Caro with 200 cubic centimeters of a "gel-type substance in six separate injection sites" in her buttocks, the Las Vegas Journal Review reported.

Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez were being held at the Clark County Detention Center pending an expected court appearance on Tuesday.

In February British tourist Claudia Adusei, 20, died in Philadelphia after she had silicone injections in her buttocks at a hotel.

In that case a medical examination revealed that the silicone went into her central vascular system, ultimately stopping her heart.

Buttock-enhancement procedures have become increasingly popular as women aspire to gain curves such as those displayed by singer Jennifer Lopez and "Mad Men" star Christina Hendricks.